Monday, September 30, 2019

Motivation Proposal Essay

Five students need to work together to prepare and present a paper for Finance class. All students will receive the same grade, regardless on how much effort and input they have put into the project. Two of the students are not pulling their weight. The first student only attends half of the time and does not have much to contribute, if anything. The second student seems uninterested and would rather tell jokes to pass the time since she does not need the grade to graduate. Question: How to get the two students more motivated and involved in the project? Resolution Recommendations: â€Å"Unfortunately, there is no single magical formula for motivating students. Many factors affect a given student’s motivation to work and to learn (qtd. in Davis, Barbara): interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence. And, of course, not all students are motivated by the same values, needs, desires, or wants. Some of your students will be motivated by the approval of others, some by overcoming challenges† (Davis, Barbara). Both students appear to be uninterested in their grades or participation. As suggested by the Expectancy Theory in Contemporary Management by G. R. Jones and J. M. George, â€Å"workers do not believe that performance and rewards are closely linked. † Furthermore, â€Å"workers do not value the rewards offered for performance. † Both students see a lack of value for their participation. Suggestions: Student #1: This student shows up only about half the time and does not participate. Could be that he/she does not feel that they have any real input that would be worthy enough for consideration. They are withdrawn and unresponsive. Encouraging this student not only to participate, but also offering positive reinforcement in the way of compliments and showing sincere interest in their input, no matter how small, will help to build their esteem and confidence, effectively drawing them into to becoming a better contributor to the group. This kind of reinforcement is also mentioned in Alderfer’s ERG Theory stating that â€Å"relatedness† is one of a person’s highest needs which are encouraged through â€Å"good relations [and] accurate feedbacks† (Contemporary Management). Student #2: This student simply has no interest in the project or the needs of the other students because she has already earned her reward – graduation. The final outcome, the grade, has no bearing on her and she is only half-heartedly attending and buying time until the class is over. Because this student feels that there is no gain or reward for her performance, it is suggested that the other students should try to approach the situation to meet her â€Å"relatedness† needs, that of â€Å"interpersonal relations [and] feelings† (Contemporary Management). Encourage this student to be part of the group on the academic level, suggesting that their thoughts and input are helpful and needed. Also congratulate and praise the student for already having met the needs for graduation and how her knowledge would greatly benefit the group. This will help stroke her ego and since of worth while also helping to meet another of her ‘higher needs’, that of â€Å"self-development [and] creative work† (Contemporary Management). Conclusion: For both students to become more active and greater contributors to the project, the individual needs of each must be discovered and met accordingly. As it appears that neither student is too concerned about their grades, the next step is to decipher what does appeal to them and how to meet those needs. The first student could be classified as an introvert, not comfortable being part of a group and not comfortable enough with their thoughts to share them with others. By encouraging him/her, asking questions, and giving appropriate praise when participation is given, this builds confidence and comfort and allows for the individual to become more active in the project. The second student does not feel the ‘need’ to participate because all of her requirements are met. She is merely going through the motions, waiting out her time until the class is finished. Encouraging her to become active because her opinions and input are valuable will help give her self worth and a sense of being needed, giving her a ‘reason’ to have a more active role in the project. Works Cited Davis, Barbara Gross. â€Å"Motivating Students. † Tools for Teaching. 26, March 2010. http://honolulu. hawaii. edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/motiv. htm. Jones, G. R. & George, J. M. Contemporary Management. 5th Edition. ISBN 978007353022.

Culture and Identity

BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 29 CHAPTER 2 Culture and Identity BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 30 ContentsKey issues The meaning and importance of culture Dominant culture Subculture Folk culture High culture Mass, popular or low culture The changing distinction between high culture and mass culture Global culture The concept of identity Different types of identity The socialization process Primary socialization Secondary socialization Socialization and the social construction of self and identity Theoretical approaches to the role of socialization in the formation of culture and identity Structural approaches Social action approaches A third way: structuration Social class and identity Social class Life chances Objective and subjective dimensions of class Social class cultures Is social class of declining importance in forming identities? The continuing importance of social class Gender and identity Sex and gender Gender a nd biology The signi? cance of gender as a source of identity Gender stereotypes and hegemonic gender identities in Britain The social construction of hegemonic gender identities through socialization Changing gender identities 31 31 31 32 32 32 33 35 36 Is there a crisis of masculinity? Is gender still an important source of identity? 4 74 38 41 43 44 44 46 46 47 47 50 50 51 51 52 53 59 60 61 61 62 63 63 65 70 Sexuality and identity Gender, sexuality and ‘normal’ sex Changing sexual identities Stigmatized or spoiled sexual identities Gay and lesbian identities A note of caution Ethnicity and identity What is meant by an ethnic identity? Diaspora and globalization Changing ethnic identities: new ethnicities and hybrid ethnic identities Ethnicity as resistance Ethnic identities in Britain Nationality and identity What is nationality? Nationality as a source of identity What is meant by a British identity? Globalization and declining national identities A British identity crisis?Disability and identity The social construction of disability Disability, socialization and stereotyping Disability as a ‘master identity’ Disability – a stigmatized or spoiled identity: an identity of exclusion Age and identity The social construction of age Age groups and identity Leisure, consumption and identity Postmodernism and identity The creation of identity in a media-saturated society How much free choice is there in choosing identities and lifestyle? Conclusion on leisure, consumption and identity Chapter summary Key terms Exam question 76 76 76 77 77 78 79 79 80 81 82 82 87 87 88 88 91 92 93 93 94 95 95 96 96 97 100 100 101 103 109 110 111 112 BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 31 CHAPTER 2 Culture and Identity K EY I SS U ES ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The meaning and importance of culture The concept of identity The socialization process Socialization and the social construction of self and identity Theoretical approac hes to the role of socialization in the formation of culture and identity Social class and identity Gender and identity Sexuality and identity Ethnicity and identity Nationality and identity Disability and identity Age and identity Leisure, consumption and identity The meaning and importance of culture The term ‘culture’ refers to the language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, dress, diet, roles, knowledge and skills, and all the other things that people learn that make up the ‘way of life’ of any society. Culture is passed on from one generation to the next through the process of socialization. Although there are many aspects of everyday life which are shared by most members of society, there are di? erent conceptions and de? nitions of culture within this general approach. These are discussed below.The dominant culture of a society refers to the main culture in a society, which is shared, or at least accepted without opposition, by the majority of peop le. Dominant culture The dominant culture of a society refers to the main culture in a society, which is shared, or at least accepted without opposition, by the majority of 31 BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 32 32 | Culture and Identity people. For example, it might be argued that the main features of British culture include it being white, patriarchal and unequal, with those who are white and male having things they regard as worthwhile rated as more important than those who are female or from a minority ethnic group.Similarly, those who are rich and powerful (who are mainly also white and male) are in a position to have their views of what is valuable and worthwhile in a culture regarded as more important, and given higher status, than those of others. Subculture When societies are very small, such as small villages in traditional societies, then all people may share a common culture or way of life. However, as societies become larger and more complica ted, a number of smaller groups may emerge within the larger society, with some di? erences in their beliefs and way of life. Each group having these di? erences is referred to as a subculture. Folk culture Folk culture is the culture created by local communities and is rooted in the experiences, customs and beliefs of the everyday life of ordinary people.It is ‘authentic’ rather than manufactured, as it is actively created by ordinary people themselves. Examples include traditional folk music, folk songs, storytelling and folk dances which are passed on from one generation to the next by socialization and often by direct experience. Folk culture is generally associated with pre-industrial or early industrial societies, though it still lingers on today among enthusiasts in the form of folk music and folk clubs, and the Morris dancing which features in many rural events. A subculture is a smaller culture held by a group of people within the main culture of a society, in some ways different from the main culture but with many aspects in common.Examples of subcultures include those of some young people, gypsies and travellers, gay people, different social classes and minority ethnic groups. Folk culture is the culture created by local communities and is rooted in the experiences, customs and beliefs of the everyday life of ordinary people. High culture High culture is generally seen as being superior to other forms of culture, and refers to aspects of culture that are seen as of lasting artistic or literary value, aimed at small, intellectual elites, predominantly upper-class and middleclass groups, interested in new ideas, critical discussion and analysis and who have what some might regard as ‘good taste’.High culture is seen as something set apart from everyday life, something special to be treated with respect and reverence, involving things of lasting value and part of a heritage which is worth preserving. High culture products are often found in special places, like art galleries, museums, concert halls and theatres. Examples of high culture products include serious news programmes and documentaries, classical music like that of Mozart or High culture refers to cultural products seen to be of lasting artistic or literary value, which are particularly admired and approved of by elites and the upper middle class. An elite is a small group holding great power and privilege in society. BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 33Culture and Identity Morris dancing is an example of traditional folk culture | 33 Mass culture, sometimes called popular culture or low culture, refers to cultural products produced for sale to the mass of ordinary people. These involve massproduced, standardized, short-lived products of no lasting value, which are seen to demand little critical thought, analysis or discussion. Beethoven, the theatre, opera, jazz, foreign language or specialist ‘art’ ? lms , and what has become established literature, such as the work of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen or Shakespeare, and visual art like that of Monet, Gauguin, Picasso or Van Gogh. Mass, popular or low cultureMass culture, sometimes called popular culture or low culture, is generally contrasted with high culture. This refers to everyday culture – simple, BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 34 34 | Culture and Identity Video games are an example of popular culture undemanding, easy-to-understand entertainment, rather than something ‘set apart’ and ‘special’. Mass culture is seen by many as inferior to high culture. Such aspects of culture are a product of industrial societies. They are aimed at the mass of ordinary people, but lack roots in their daily experiences as in folk culture, and are manufactured by businesses for pro? t rather than created by the community itself re? ecting its own experiences of daily life.Popular culture involves mass-produced, standardized and short-lived products, sometimes of trivial content and seen by some as of no lasting ‘artistic’ value, largely concerned with making money for large corporations, especially the mass media. Popular culture might include mass circulation magazines, extensive coverage of celebrities, ‘red top’ tabloid newspapers like the Sun or the Mirror, television soaps and reality TV shows, dramas and thrillers, rock and pop music, video games, blockbuster feature ? lms for the mass market, and thrillers bought for reading on the beach. Such culture is largely seen as passive and unchallenging, often fairly mindless entertainment, aimed at the largest number of people possible.Some Marxists argue that mass culture maintains the ideological hegemony (or the dominance of a set of ideas) and the power of the dominant social class in society. This is because the consumers of mass culture are lulled into an uncritical, undemanding pass ivity, making them less likely to challenge the dominant ideas, groups and interests in society. BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 35 Culture and Identity | 35 The changing distinction between high culture and mass culture Some now argue that the distinction between high culture and mass culture is weakening. Postmodernist writers, in particular, argue that mass markets and consumption now make the distinction between high and popular culture meaningless.There has been a huge expansion of the creative and cultural industries, such as advertising, television, ? lm, music, and book and magazine publishing. This means there is now a huge range of media and cultural products available to all. Technology in industrial societies, such as mass communication technology like the internet, music downloads, cable, satellite and digital television, ? lm and radio, printing for both mass production and personal use in the home, the global reach of modern mass media tec hnology, the mass production of goods on a world scale and easier international transportation, make all forms of culture freely available to everyone.Such technology enables original music and art and other cultural products to be consumed by the mass of people in their own homes without visiting specialized institutions like theatres or art galleries. High culture is no longer simply the preserve of cultural elites. People now have a wider diversity of cultural choices and products available to them than ever before in history, and can ‘pick and mix’ from either popular or high culture. High culture art galleries, like Tate Modern in London, are now attracting very large numbers of visitors, from very diverse backgrounds. Live opera is now available to the masses, through popular ? gures like the OperaBabes, or concerts in the park.Strinati (1995) argues that elements of high culture have now become a part of popular culture, and elements of popular culture have been incorporated into high culture, and that there is therefore no longer any real distinction between high and popular culture, and it is ever more di? cult for any one set of ideas of what is worthwhile culture to dominate in society. For example, artist Andy Warhol painted thirty pictures of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in di? erent colours, arguing that ‘thirty was better than one’, turning high culture art into popular culture. Although Warhol’s work has been marketed to millions through postcards and posters, at the same time it is widely admired by the supporters of high culture.In 2007 there was some controversy in Britain when the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, generally seen as an institution of high culture, held ‘Kylie: The Exhibition’ – an exhibition of costumes, album covers, accessories, photos and videos from the career of the then 38-year-old pop singer Kylie Minogue. This drew widespread accusations from critics th at high culture was being ‘dumbed down’. High culture art forms are themselves increasingly being turned into products for sale in the mass market for consumption by the mass of BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 36 36 | Culture and Identity ordinary people, and there is no longer anything special about art, as it is incorporated into daily life. Technology now means mass audiences can see and study high culture products, such as paintings by artists like Van Gogh, on the internet or TV, and have their own framed print hanging on their sitting-room wall.The originals may still only be on show in art galleries and museums, but copies are available to everyone. High culture art like the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Sun? owers are now reproduced on everything from socks and t-shirts to chocolates and can lids, mugs, mouse mats, tablemats, jigsaws and posters. (Visit or for some bizarre images and uses of the Mona Lisa. ) Classical music is used as a marketing tune by advertisers, and literature is turned into TV series and major mass movies, such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Global culture Global culture refers to the way globalization has undermined national and local cultures, with cultural products and ways of life in di? erent countries of the world becoming more alike.The same cultural and consumer products are now sold across the world, inspired by media advertising and a shared mass culture spread through a media-generated culture industry, and they have become part of the ways of life of many di? erent societies. For example, television companies sell their programmes and programme formats like Big Brother and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? globally. Companies like McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Vodaphone, Starbucks, Nescafe, Sony and Nike are now symbols that are recognized across the world, along with the consumer lifestyles and culture associated with them. As Ritzer (2004) shows, using the exampl e of the American food industry, companies and brands now operate on a global scale.For example, McDonald’s is a worldwide business, with 26,500 restaurants in more than 119 countries (in 2007), Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken operate in 100 countries, and Subway in 72 countries, with Starbucks growing at a colossal speed. It is now possible to buy an identical food product practically anywhere in the world, promoting a global culture and also weakening local cultures, as local food outlets close in the face of competition and local diets change. Combined with global marketing of ? lms, music, computer games, food and clothes, football and other consumer products, these have made cultures across the world increasingly similar, with people watching the same TV programmes and ? lms, eating the same foods, wearing the same designer clothes and labels, and sharing many aspects of their lifestyles and identities.Global culture refers to the way cultures in different countries of the world have become more alike, sharing increasingly similar consumer products and ways of life. This has arisen as globalization has undermined national and local cultures. Globalization is the growing interdependence of societies across the world, with the spread of the same culture, consumer goods and economic interests across the globe. BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 37 The Mona Lisa †¦ Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, c. 1503–1507, oil on poplar, The Louvre, Paris †¦ now has a spliff to relax and a mobile to keep in touch Mona Stoner, c. 2006, posted on internet: Fine art is now available on cubes to play with Source: The Mona Lisa is transformed into a window blindIn what ways do these pictures illustrate the erosion of the distinction between high culture and popular culture? Try to think of other examples of this BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 26/3/08 10:47 Page 38 38 | Culture and Identity Activity 1 Refer to the pictures on this page, and explain in what ways they illustrate global culture. Try to think of other consumer products that are also global. 2 In what ways do you think consuming these products also involves lifestyle choices? For example, what’s the difference between having a coffee in Starbucks and in the local cafe (apart from the coffee itself)? Explain what lifestyle you think is identi? ed with your selected products. Identify and explain, with examples, three differences between high culture, mass culture and folk culture. 4 Identify and explain three reasons why the distinction between high culture and popular culture might be weakening. Globalization means that many of the same product brands are now found in many countries of the world. The concept of identity Identity is about how individuals or groups see and de? ne themselves, and how other individuals or groups see and de? ne them. Identity is formed through the socialization process and the in? uence of social institutions like the family, the education system and the mass media. The concept of identity is an important one, as it is only through establishing our own identities and earning about the identities of other individuals and groups that we come to know what makes us similar to some people and di? erent from others, and therefore form social connections with them. How you see yourself will in? uence the friends you have, who you will marry or live with, and the communities and groups to which you relate and belong. If people did not have an identity, they would lack the means of identifying with or relating to their peer group, to their neighbours, to the communities BROWNE CH 1–4 (M1203). qxp:John Q7 3/4/08 15:49 Page 39 Culture and Identity | 39 in which they lived or to the people they came across in their everyday lives. Identity therefore ‘? ts’ individuals into the society in which they live.The identity of individuals and groups involves both e lements of personal choice and the responses and attitudes of others. Individuals are not free to adopt any identity they like, and factors like their social class, their ethnic group and their sex are likely to in? uence how others see them. The identity that an individual wants to assert and which they may wish others to see them having may not be the one that others accept or recognize. An Asian woman, for example, may not wish to be identi? ed primarily as an Asian or a woman, but as a senior manager or entertainer. However, if others still ‘Look, don’t identify me by the size and shape of my body, my social class, y job, my gender, my ethnicity, my sexuality, my nationality, my age, my religion, my education, my friends, my lifestyle, how much money I earn, the clothes I wear, the books I read, where I go shopping, the way I decorate my house, the television programmes and movies I watch, my leisure and sports activities, the car I drive, the music I listen to, the drinks I like, the food I eat, the clubs I go to, where I go on holiday, the way I speak or my accent, the things I say, the things I do, or what I believe in. I’m just me. OK? ’ continue to see her primarily in terms of her ethnic and gender characteristics, she may ? nd it di? cult to assert her chosen identity. Similarly, the pensioner who sees him or herself as ‘young at heart’ may still be regarded as an old person by others.Individuals have multiple identities, asserting di? erent identities in di? erent circumstances. An individual may, for example, de? ne herself primarily as a Muslim in her family or community, as a manager at her work, as a lesbian in her sexual life, or as a designer-drug-user in her peer group. While the example of the Muslim, lesbian, drug-taking manager might seem a somewhat unlikely mix of identities, it does suggest that it is possible for people to assert di? erent identities or impressions of themselves in di? erent soci al situations. Identities may also change over time. For example, as people grow older they may begin to see themselves as di? erent from when they were younger,

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Brand Management Summary Essay

Constructs: * Consumer based brand equity: The differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. It involves consumers’ reactions to an element of the marketing mix for the brand in comparison with their reactions to the same marketing mix element attributed to a fictitiously named/unnamed version of the product or service. * Brand knowledge: a brand node in memory to which a variety of associations are linked: * Brand image: set of brand associations in a consumers’ memory. It are perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory. Brand image is defined by: * Type of Brand associations: * Attributes: Non-product related or product related. * Benefits: Functional, experiential or symbolic. * Attitudes * Favorability, Strength and Uniqueness of Brand associations * Brand awareness: recall and recognition by consumers. It is about the strength of the brand node or trace in memory. Findings: * A brand is said to have a positive (negative) customer-based brand equity if consumers react more (less) favorably to the product, price, promotion, or distribution of the brand than they do to the same marketing mix element when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product or service. * Favorable CBBE can lead to enhanced revenue, lower costs, greater profits, larger margins, less elasticity, increased marketing communication effectiveness and licensing opportunities. * Pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion strategies stimulate CBBE. * Building CBBE requires creating a familiar brand name and a positive brand image. * Measuring CBBE can be done (1) indirectly by measuring sources of brand knowledge or (2) directly by measuring the effects of brand knowledge on consumer response to elements of the marketing  mix. * Managing CBBE: (1) take a broad and long-term view of marketing a brand (2) specify the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits for a brand (3) consider a wide range of traditional and nontraditional advertising, promotion and marketing options (4) coordinate the marketing options that are chosen (5) conducting tracking studies and controlled experiments (6) evaluate potential extension candidates. Implications: * Marketing activity can potentially enhance or maintain consumers’ awareness of the brand or the favorability, strength or uniqueness of certain associations. * This enables making short- and long-term decisions better and more insightful. Article 2: Esch, Franz-Rudolf, Tobias Langer, Bernd H. Schmitt and Patrick Geus (2006), â€Å"Are Brands Forever? How Brand Knowledge and Relationships Affect Current and Future Purchases,† Journal of Product & Brand Management, 15, 2, 98-105 Constructs: * Brand attributes: awareness, image, perceived quality, perceived value, personality, and organizational associations. * Brand knowledge attributes: awareness and image, where awareness is a necessary condition to build brand image. * Brand relationships: * Satisfaction: the exchange aspects of a relationship. It’s about giving vs. receiving. * Trust: the feeling that is the outcome of a communal relationship with a brand. * Attachment: a longer-lasting, commitment-inducing bond between the brand and the consumer. Satisfaction and Trust lead to brand Attachment. * Behavioral outcomes: Current purchase behavior and future purchase behavior. Findings: * Current purchases are affected by brand image directly and by brand awareness indirectly. * Future purchases are not affected by either dimension of brand knowledge directly, but brand knowledge does affect future purchases via a brand relationship path that includes brand satisfaction, brand trust and attachment to the brand. Concluding, brand knowledge is not sufficient to build long-term brand relationships. However,  relationship variables are critical for predicting future purchases as well as current purchases. * Brand awareness does not significantly affect brand satisfaction and brand trust. * Brand awareness affects brand image and both are direct determinants of current consumer purchase behavior. Implications: * Currently, brand managers measure brand awareness and brand image. They should also consider brand relationship measures and develop strategic and tactical initiatives that ensure that consumers are satisfied with the brand, trust it and feel attached to it if they wish to achieve long-term success. Lecture notes (27-08-2012): Introduction to Brand Management Once, products were un-differentiable, often sold loose, the quality varied significantly and many people made the same thing. To make buyers prefer your ‘commodity’, brands were introduced: * A name, sign or symbol intended to identify the goods & services of one (group of) sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. It creates reputation, awareness and prominence. Organizations perceive brands as physical products, where customers perceive it as psychological products, since they want to buy brands and not simply products. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. It consists of 4 levels: Core benefit, tangible product, augmented product and total product. * A brand is a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. It makes products different in a rational, tangible, symbolic, emotional and intangible way. In reality, the most valuable assets are intangible ones. A brand is important for * Customers because: it’s an identification of a production source, it assigns responsibility to the maker, it reduces risk, it reduces search cost, it forms a bond / pact with the maker of the product, it is a symbolic device, and a sign of quality. * Manufacturers because: it allows identification to simplify handling or tracing, it allows legal protection of unique features, it’s a signal of quality level, it endows unique associations to products, it’s a source of competitive advantage and a source of financial returns. As long is something is perceived as different, from the product category, it is branded. It should be given a label and provided a meaning. Types of things that can be branded: 1) Physical goods 2) Services 3) Retailers & Distributors 4) Online products and Services 5) People and Organizations 6) Sports, Arts and Entertainment (experience goods like Walt Disney and Pixar) 7) Geographic Locations 8) Ideas and Causes. Brands Fail because market conditions change, where some companies fail to adapt (inertia). Business Challenges & Opportunities: * Savvy customers: More experienced customers demand more than respect. * Brand proliferation: few products are ‘mono’ branded nowadays. Often, complex brand families and portfolios are required. * Media fragmentation: New methods of communication arise (internet) and expenditures appear to shift from advertising to promotion. * Increased costs: Developing new products is costly so team up with other brands. * Increased competition: Differentiation becomes more difficult, markets start to be more mature and low-priced competitors arise. Consider brand extensions. * Greater accountability: Engage short-term performance orientation, make sure you have your figures right. Customer Based Brand Equity: (1) Differential effect that (2) brand knowledge has on (3) consumer response to the marketing of that brand. Marketing a product should make the consumers’ response more favorable compared to not branding the product. Types are: * Consumer brand equity: A positive, strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. * Financial brand equity: enables earning more in  the short and long run. The Strategic Brand Management Process (to build, measure and manage brand equity): 1. Identify and Establish brand positioning and values: It is your attempt to get in the mind of the consumer in a distinct and valued place. This includes mental maps, a competitive frame of reference, points of parity & difference, core brand values and brand mantra. It is also about who is in your market. 2. Plan and implement brand marketing programs: The mixing and matching of brand elements (visual or verbal?), integrating brand marketing activities and leverage of secondary associations that convey meaning to consumers. 3. Measure and interpret brand performance: Use brand value chains (how will our activities influence what customers think, feel and do), audits, tracking, and equity management systems. What is a Business Value Chain: a. Customer brand equity management goal: build, sustain, and leverage a strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. b. Financial brand equity goal: to enable more earnings in the short and long run. 4. Grow & Sustain brand equity (how to improve things): concepts that are used are brand-product matrixes (shows all brands and products sold by one firm), brand portfolios and hierarchies, brand expansion strategies and brand reinforcement and revitalization. The 6 deadly sins of branding: 1. Brand Memory loss: don’t forget what a brand stands for, don’t change identity. 2. Brand Egoism: overestimating your (supplying) capabilities and importance. 3. Brand Deception: Don’t include fictional ingredients that appear healthy or try to cover the reality of your product. 4. Brand fatigue: Companies are bored with their brands, causing a lack of creativity. 5. Brand paranoia: Too much focus on competition instead of product quality. 6. Brand irrelevance: Not staying ahead of the product category’s market. Lecture notes WC week 1 (29-08-012 / Red Bull Case): Sources of brand equity for Red bull: * First mover advantage, premium pricing, and special ingredients  (taurine). * New market creation (energy drink), and an all round occasion product. * Sampling often, source efficacy, cool image, limited availability, and specific associations such as sports and athletes. Their strategy is a global approach. Tactics are always similar, and sports are always important. How does the marketing program contribute to the brand equity: * They have a broad positioning, aiming for high quality and high price, being a premium product and being exclusive. Some terminology: * Disruptive products are those that break the rules, the normal way of doing business. * They do so ‘below the line’ by using exceptional promotion activities. * They do so ‘above the line’ by using out of the box marketing. * Share of voice: Share of expenditures on advertising, as a share of the product category. * Share of belly: Share in all types of drinks consumption. * The most important things for branded products are involvement and interest. * ‘Jump on the bandwagon’ means following the mainstream (Bullit vs. Red Bull). Why are Red bull’s advertisements so successful and how do they maintain their marketing monumentum? * High integration and a consistent program. * Limited availability, which causes buzz marketing. * Their ads use a specific humorous tone of voice, which builds awareness. Findings of the energy drink experiment: * All energy drinks increase blood pressure. Placebos only do so under high motivation. Red bull and brand extensions (the key to success is a ‘fit’ with your brand): * What did they do already? Shots, different tastes, Red Bull cola, Premix with alcoholics, refrigerators, and using different sizes. * Which ones were successful? Different sizes, sports events, magazines, shows, and the flagship store that sells a lot of merchandise. * Which ones were unsuccessful? Different tastes, Cola, and energy shots. Week 2: Branding Objectives: Values, Identity and Positioning Article 1: Brown, Tom J., Peter A. Dacin, Michael G. Pratt and David A. Whetten (2006) â€Å"Identity, Intended Image, Construed Image, and Reputation: An Interdisciplinary Framework and Suggested Terminology,† Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34, 2, 99-106 Constructs according to CED (Central, enduring, and distinctive organizational level of analysis): * Identity: An individual’s self-difinition / who are we as an organization. * Organizational identity: the property of a social group rather than an individual. * Intended Image: mental associations about the organization that organization leaders want important audiences / stakeholders to hold. * Construed image: Mental associations that organization members believe individuals or multiple people outside the organization hold about the organization. * Reputation: mental associations about the organization actually held by others outside the organization. Findings: * Image concerns what an organizational member wants others to know about the organization, while reputation is a perception of the organization actually held by an external stakeholder. * Corporate associations belong with the stakeholder, not to the organization. They may be influenced by a variety of outside sources: competitors, industry analysts, consumer activists and the media in addition to communications from the company. Implications: * Not mentioned Article 2: Coleman, Darren, Leslie de Chernatory and George Christodoulides (2011) â€Å"B2B Service Brand Identity: Scale Development and Validation,† Industrial Marketing Management, 40, 1063-1071 Constructs: * B2B service brand identity: the strategist’s vision of how a B2B service brand should be perceived by its stakeholders. It consists of the following scale dimensions: * Marketing Culture: unwritten policies and guidelines which provide employees with behavioral norms. It’s also about the importance an organization places on the marketing function. * Client relationship management: relationships with customers are the  cornerstone of industrial marketing. Therefore, the quality of CRM is very important. * Corporate Visual identity: logos can simplify the process of communicating brand benefit by being visual metaphors. They also help distinguishing a brand. * Integrated marketing communications: they help an organization’s brand identity manifest. For B2B, communications focus on organization rather than products. * Brand personality: The strength, favorability and uniqueness of the brand personality association. It should be easy to describe by clients, and f avourable. Findings: * After two factor analyses, the paper chose to rename some dimensions: * Employee & client focus: The organization treats employees & clients as an essential part of the organization, will help them in a responsive manner, will discover and respond to their needs, and top management is committed to providing quality service. * Corporate visual identity: Our font and logo is an important part of our visual identity, which makes us recognizable. * Brand personality: Associations are extremely positive and favorable, and clients have no difficulty describing them. * Consistent communications: There’s a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all communication tools. Furthermore, Advertising, PR and Sales are providing consistent messages. * Human resource initiatives: There are employee-training programs designed to develop skills required for acquiring and deepening client relationships. Moreover, the organization regularly monitors employees’ performance. * The model is now empirical instead of conceptual. In addition, it is a synergistic network since all dimensions are highly correlated. Implications: * When managers want to asses the effectiveness of B2B service brand identity efforts, they should focus on either one or multiple of the above mentioned dimensions and measure them over time. Article 3: Chernev, Alexander, Ryan Hamilton and David Gal (2011) â€Å"Competing for Consumer Identity: Limits to Self-Expression and the Perils of Lifestyle  Branding,† Journal of Marketing, 75, May, 66-82 Constructs: * Self-expression of lifestyle and social identity: this is enabled by a huge degree of customization for certain products and also by social media. Findings (keep in mind that all findings discuss short-term effects): * Consumer brand preferences are a function of the activities they were involved in prior to evaluating a given brand. This finding holds because the need for self-expression is finite and ultimately can be satiated. This means that the need for self-expressive brands decreases as the number of alternative means of self-expression increases. * The extent to which consumers use brands to express their identities is not limited to self-expressive brands in the same category but it is also a function of the availability of alternative means of expressing identity. Satiation is caused by: * Personal brand relevance: how close is the brand related to your identity. Brands evaluated later in a set were more likely to be rated lower or equivalent in terms of personal relevance. * Perceived brand uniqueness: How brands are perceived to be different. * Consumers’ willingness to pay. * Increasing the prominence of self-expressive brands that are already a part of a consumer’s identity is likely to weaken future brand preferences. This holds between and across product categories. This effect is more pronounced for symbolic than functional brands: * Brand associations should be distinguished: Functional and symbolic associations. * Increasing the need for self-expression (e.g. by threatening identity) has the effect of strengthening brand preferences. * Self-expressive behavioral acts such as product customization can lead to identity saturation, weakening consumers’ brand preferences. Implications: * Brands might possibly compete across categories and become a part of a person’s identity. * Lifestyle branding has proven to be successful for many brands. However, managers may be trading fierce within-category  functional competition for fierce across-category symbolic competition when doing so. All self-expressive brands could end up competing with one another, and possibly even non-brand self-expressive items and social media. * More practical: It might be unattractive to have a shop with self-expressive products next to another shop selling such (Apple Store). Article 4: Naresh, Sheena G. (2012) â€Å"Do Brand Personalities Make a Difference to Consumers?,† , Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 37, 31-37 Constructs: * When associated to image, brand uniqueness or identity is the arrangement of words, ideas and associations that structure the total perception of the brand. * Brand personality: the set of human characteristics associated with the brand. It makes brands more interesting, memorable, and it makes people more aware. The Big 5: * Sincerity: Down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful (Douwe Egberts). * Excitement: Daring, spirited, imaginative, up to date (Porsche). * Competence: reliable, intelligent, successful (ABN AMRO). * Sophistication: Upper class, Charming (Mercedes). * Ruggedness: Outdoorsy, Tough (Levis, Nike, Marlboro). * Brand personality statement: what personality managers want their consumers to perceive. * Brand personality profile: what the consumers are thinking and feeling about the brand. Findings: * Sentimental brand personalities are common for all fast moving consumer goods. Secondly, most FMCGs are characterized as young, successful and inspiring. Finally, success, friendliness, trendiness, uniqueness, modernization and glamour are often found. Implications: * Marketers should focus on strengthening their strategies by emphasizing personality traits of their brands. This can cause strategic changes in brand positioning or communications. Lecture notes Week 2 (03-09-2012): If your customers don’t know who you are, they won’t buy. You have to show who you are in order to do business. The circle of brand management: * Strategists propose an identity by using a certain strategy marketers and PR build on this strategy by choosing a position and messaging this position (potential) customers generate a brand image based on these messages strategists can again build a strategy to reposition the image of the consumers.  §1: Brand Identity: How strategists want the brand to be perceived: * It explains whether an ad suits the brand, whether new products should be launched inside or outside the brand boundaries, how far can we change our communication style regionally and internationally, or whether sponsorship would ‘fit’ the brand. * Definition: the unique composition of physical, social and psychological components of a brand as far as they are crucial, lasting and remarkable. * What’s the vision & aim of a company, what makes it different, what are its values, what need is the brand fulfilling, what is its permanent nature, and what signs make it recognizable. * Aspects: CED: Central, Enduring (whether it’s consistent over time) & Distinctive. * Components: Physical (external characteristics, logo), Psychological (experiences, character, point of view), Social (spokesperson, category, relationship, users).  §1.1 Heritage, consisting of history, consistency, passion and leadership. Effects are: * (1) Authentic real (2) trustworthy safe (3) intimate warm (4) expert excellence in performance and experience. * Sources are people, the firm itself, and region & nation; human capital, social capital, cultural capital & natural capital. * Country of origin is very important, and countlessly many papers have covered it.  §1.2 Personality & Values: * For the Big Five personality indicators/dimensions, see page 9 article 4. * Prototypical cues help distinguishing things between product categories. It also helps in creating expectance. * Values are stable,  desirable modes of conduct or abstract end-states that direct behavior. Milton R. defined 18 instrumental & 18 terminal values that can be used to find identity. * Core brand values: abstract associations that characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand. These serve the foundation of a brand strategy, and in particular the POPs and PODs (see page 11). For BMW this would be stylish driving, for Marlboro the cowboy life. * Brand Mantras: the ‘heart and soul’ of a brand: a 3-to-5 word phrase that captures the essence or spirit of the brand positioning and values. Malibu: seriously easy going. Here, campaigns are more about context rather than content; the expression of the brand is more important than the brand itself. Brand mantra’s consist of: * (1) Brand function (Authenticity for NIKE), (2) Descriptive modifier (Athletic for NIKE), (3) Emotional modifier (Performance for NIKE). * Implementing a mantra requires: communication simplification inspiration.  §1.3 Vision: The brand’s dream about the future. It is about shaping the category and improving customers’ welfare. Visions are provocative and can guide short-term behavior by communicating direction. The Brand Identity Prism to the left discusses (1) physique (features, symbols, attributes), (2) Personality, (3) Culture (set of values), (4) Relationship (beliefs and associations), (5) Reflection (consumers’ perception) and (6) Self-image (What the consumer thinks of himself).  §1.4 Brand Image: How the brand is actually perceived: * Identification: Brand awareness & category structure. * Qualification: Brand associations & meaning structure.  §2 Brand Positioning: The part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively communicated to a target audience. It is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. The following paragraphs represent the steps that should be taken when positioning a brand.  §2.1 (step A) Frame of Reference: Who is the target customer and who are the main competitors? Here, we define category membership: * Target markets can be defined by  segmentation. Segmentation can be done on the basis of consumers (descriptive, behavioral, psychographic or geographic) or B2B (nature of the goods, buying conditions, demographics). Combinations are also possible. Criteria: * Identifiability, size, accessibility, responsiveness. * Take into account that there are different types of competition, namely on product type, category or class. In addition, competition may occur at benefit level rather than attribute level (see paper 3 page 8). * When comparing at category level, 1 brand is the reference brand and several others are compared to that. If you’re the reference brand, consider improvements on prices and quality. Be aware that decreases in attributes hurt more than for non-reference brands. When you’re not a reference brand, any POD from the reference brand is a loss. Therefore, reference brand have competitive advantages. * Prospect theory: Extra value diminishes as available gains increase. * When you’re launching a new brand, all ‘usual’ category characteristics will first have to be transferred. ‘Creating’ a category is not advised and very expensive (Subway food). Copying prototypical cues can be used by the follower brand to be accepted in the category (e.g. fast food using Red & Yellow / McDo).  §2.2 (step B) POPs & PODs are chosen after defining the frame of reference: * Points of Parity: How is the brand similar to others in the category, how can they be associated and compared. Moreover, which associations are shared? Category POPs are necessary to be a legitimate and credible product offering within a category. Competitive POPs negate PODs of competitors. * Points of Difference: How is the brand different to others in the category? It’s about brand associations that are unique to the brand and favorably evaluated by consumers. They can be functional (performance related) or abstract (imagery-related). They’re also closely related to unique selling propositions, competitive advantages and distinctive competences. They’re more difficult to obtain than POPs. PODs and POPs can be defined using the following typology: Intrinsic product differentiation, Design/Style differentiation, Symbolic Differentiation, Channel Differentiation, Price Differentiation, Customer Service differentiation, Customer intimacy differentiation. Choosing PODS and POPs  is based on: * Desirability: Relevance, distinctiveness and believability. * Deliverability: Feasibility, communicability and sustainability.  §2.3 (Step C) Establishing POPs and PODs: This can be difficult since many POPs and PODs are negatively correlated (e.g. High quality and low price). Methods that can solve this problem are (1) separation of attributes (2) Leveraging equity of another entity (3) redefining the relationship.  §2.4 Use and usage situation: What is the brand promise and consumer benefit? And what is the occasion when the product will be consumed? The best moment to confront customers with product (advertisements) is when they really need it (e.g. In India, detergent ads are place on top of buses, since everyone does their laundry on the balcony where they see these tops).  §2.5 Statement and tags Are the current looks and ingredients compatible with its positioning? There are multiple elements that will evaluate and choose a brand positioning: 1. The Target audience 2. The compelling benefit 3. The reason why customers should believe the PODs 4. Product Name 5. Product Category Week 3: Special Branding Strategies Article 1: Keller, Kevin Lane and Philip Kotler (2012) â€Å"Branding in B2B firms† in: Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, edited by Gary l. Lilien and Rajdeep Grewal, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK. Constructs: * B2B branding: might not be needed because buyers are experienced and fully informed, it’s more about the buying experience, it involves  unnecessary costs, effects are only short-term, calculating ROI is difficult, brand building is complex and because it doesn’t significantly influence the buyers’ final decision. Findings: * The Brand Management Scorecard: a. Managers understand what the brand means to customers. b. The brand is properly positioned.  c. Customers receive superior delivery of the benefits they value most. d. The brand takes advantage of the full repertoire of branding and marketing activities available to build brand equity. e. Marketing and communications efforts are seamlessly integrated. The brand communicates with one voice. f. The brand’s pricing strategy is based on customer perceptions of value. g. The brand uses appropriate imagery to support its personality. h. The brand is innovative and relevant. i. For a multiproduct, multi-brand firm, the brand hierarchy and brand portfolio are strategically sound. j. The firm has in place a system to monitor brand equity and performance. * Steps to build and manage a strong brand: a. Ensure the organization understands and supports branding and the role of brand management. Moreover, internal branding is important (next two steps): b. Horizontal and vertical alignment: branding efforts should be understood by all. c. Brand mantras: (see p10  §1.2) will consistently reinforce and support the brand. a. A General Electric application: for this firm, more then a brand mantra was integrated successfully through 11 different businesses. d. Adopt a corporate brand strategy if possibly and create a well-defined brand hierarchy: (Carefully) decide on brand architecture (distinctive brand elements applied to the different products sold by the firm). Corporate branding is preferred. e. Corporate credibility: competence in delivery and satisfaction for the client. It depends on expertise, trustworthiness and likability. f. Brand hierarchy: Significantly different sub-businesses require sub-brands. g. Frame Value Perceptions: Strive for differentiation and value rather than  commoditization. Framing is about how clients currently think and choose among products and services, and then determining how this ideally should be. h. Link non-product-related imagery associations: Apple is perceived as an innovative brand, where Microsoft is more of an aggressive firm. Consider how dimensions of corporate credibility affect decisions of the B2B customer. i. Uncover relevant emotional associations for the brand: Security, social approval and self-respect definitely play a role. In addition, how do risk and feelings influence a customers decision making? j. Emotions and decision-making: Ultimately, individuals rather than organizations make purchasing decisions. These people are influenced by emotions & ratio. k. Segment Customers carefully and develop tailored branding and marketing programs. Should there be a uniform image within and across firms? l. Segmentation within organizations: the ‘buying center’ brings together initiators, users, influencers, deciders, approvers, buyers and gatekeepers. People fulfill multiple of these tasks, but all should be approached with identical messages. m. Segmentation across organizations: careful customer analysis is required for successful segmentation. Implications: Not mentioned. Article 2: Desai, Kalpesh Kaushik and Kevin Lane Keller (2002) â€Å"The Effects of Ingredient branding Strategies on Host Brand Extendibility,† Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, (January), 73- 93. Constructs: * Line extensions: minor product changes in the host brand, possibly already introduced by others in the category. When these changes are branded, they’re further defined as: * Slot-filler brand expansions: the level of one existing product attribute changes. * New attribute expansion: an entirely new attribute or characteristic is added to the product. * Self-branded ingredient: the host brand includes and creates a new self-brand. * Co-branded ingredient branding: using associated brands as ingredients (Dell & Intel) that are supplied by another firm. Findings: * For Slot-filler expansions, a cobranded ingredient facilitates initial expansion acceptance, but a self-branded ingredient leads to more favorable subsequent category extension evaluations. Subjects appeared not to credit the host brand for the cobrand association in evaluating subsequent extensions, and if anything, they held it against the host brand. * For new attribute expansions, a co-branded ingredient leads to more favorable evaluations of both the initial expansion and the subsequent category extension. Because a self-branded ingredient did not help ‘broaden’ the equity of the host brand, and because the host brand may have lacked credibility, an extension involving a self-branded ingredient was less favorably evaluated. * Should ingredients be branded? Yes, it improves the competitiveness of the host brand and it’s a signal of quality when combining high quality brands. Implications: * Besides helping improve the competitiveness of the host brand, the new attribute can, in some cases, expand the usage of the host brand. * Co-branding might enhance short-term equity of a host and its value, even under low fit. However, in the long-term co-branding will require more fit to the category. After all, they’re borrowing and not generating equity themselves. * Evaluations of slot-filler extensions suffer after the cobrand that was originally used in the expansion is dropped from the extension. Article 3: Gussoni, Manuela and Andrea Mangani (2012) â€Å"Corporate branding strategies in mergers and acquisitions,† Journal of Brand Management, I 350-213IX, 1-16 Constructs: * Corporate name is a strategic marketing asset and carries the corporation’s reputation. * Mergers & Acquisitions: can be classified as: * Conservative: the new entity adopts the acquirer’s or the target’s corporate name. * Innovative: the new entity uses a mixed or new name. * Horizontal: if the combining entities are active in the same  industry and produce similar goods & services. * Vertical: if the combining entities are active in the same industry but at separate production stages (buying buyers or suppliers). * Divisional acquisition: acquiring /merging only some divisions of companies. * Diversification: if the combining entities are active in separate industries * Financial investments: if a financial investor, typically a private equity investment firm, acquires a manufacturing or service company. Findings: * Divisional acquisition, vertical integrations, diversifications and the sectors involved do not affect the probability of the strategy being innovative. * Inventing a new name for a target is unusual. * Innovative brand strategies are more probably in the case of mergers (as opposed to acquisitions), horizontal M&As and financial investments. More specifically, a mixed name is the preferred option since value and reputation of both names will be involved. * When doing a financial investment, the acquirer doesn’t transfer it’s name, but chooses between keeping the acquired name or changing it in case of bad reputation. * Horizontal M&As tend to extend the name of the acquirer to the target. Implications: * Management and chanting of brands and corporate names may have a profound impact within organizations. Therefore we recommend carefully interpreting our and other studies regarding naming strategies. * Marketing during a M&A process is often underestimated. Article 4: Ilicic, Jasmina and Cynthia M. Webster (2012) â€Å"Celebrity co-branding partners as irrelevant brand information in advertisements,† Journal of Business Research Constructs: * Celebrities are identified as co-branding partners, where two brands (one being the celebrity) are paired with one another in a marketing context such as an advertisement. * Their should be a match between the  celebrity and brand image to achieve positive effects on consumer attitudes. * A celebrity not only provides consumers with relevant brand information when they convey characteristics pertinent to the brand but also when they mention information relevant to the endorsed brand. * Irrelevant information provided by a celebrity endorser also aids in making a judgment about whether the brand is able to deliver the benefit according to the consumer. This holds regardless of whether relevant brand information is also present. * Dilution effect in marketing: Dilution of consumers’ beliefs might occur when a celebrity provides both irrelevant and relevant brand information. This effect is present regardless of whether consumers perceive the celebrity to match or mismatch th e brand. Findings: * When a celebrity co-branding partner does not provide information about the partner brand nor brand benefits but plays a peripheral role, consumer judgments in the ability of the partner brand to deliver benefits, their purchase intent and their match-up perceptions become less positive. * Consumer brand benefit beliefs and purchase intentions show evidence of a dilution effect only when consumers perceive a mismatch between the celebrity and brand and when presented with irrelevant information supplied by a celebrity in addition to relevant brand information. When purely relevant information is presented, dilution does not occur. * Dilution occurs on perceived brand benefits, purchase intentions and match-up perception between the celebrity and the brand. Implications: * Ensure that a celebrity co-partner does not provide irrelevant brand information within advertisements to avoid brand benefit belief, purchase intent and match-up dilution. * Advertisements should feature an irrelevant and incongruent celebrity in combination with relevant brand information.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Library Search Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Library Search - Research Paper Example The need for more information or further assistance on the library search. Create the reference for the article selected using correct APA format including: authors, year, article title, journal name, volume number, issue number, page numbers, italics, parentheses, punctuation, line spacing, and hanging indent. Type a quotation (10–20 words) from the selected article using correct APA format including quotation marks, authors’ names, year, page numbers, and parentheses. Do not use words or ideas the authors cited from another source. Summarize the article in 80–110 words. Be concise and clearly cover the main points of the article. Use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Do not include the article title, journal, authors, or citations. Nursing theory is based on the expansion and understanding evidence based nursing practices and the contribution to the evidences. It also focuses on more comprehensive and diverse patterns away from just the narrow focus. Carper constitute four fundamental patterns in nursing. The fundamental practices constitute ethical, personal, empirical, and anesthetic practices. Mode of inquiry for development of evidence on each of the values is done differently. Each of the practices are considered a theory on its own. Different lenses are provided by the different nursing theories which are essential for evidence based nursing practices. Perfect inquiry is appropriate for generation and fostering the theories. Use 80–110 words to clearly state how you will use information learned from this article in your future practice. Be concise and clearly relate article contents to your practice. Use first person, correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Details and specifics regarding your own future use of this information are needed. Information from the searches should be stored in a systematic and a convenient way that enables reference. The information is arranged

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Database protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Database protection - Essay Example Compilations of data or other material, whether in machine readable or other form, which by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such (â€Å"Agreement on Trade-Related.†). The petition filed to the WTO is basically a court hearing, with a judge, lawyers, plaintiff, and defendant. The only difference is that not all of the players in this court case are Americans, but from various countries belonging to the WTO. Whatever the judge decides, the defendant’s country, or America in this case, is left to uphold. If it was proven that the database had been accessed illegally and copies distributed, then America would enforce the penalty, ranging from prison to restitution. Most of the time restitution is the scenario. Let it be noted that only twenty-five cases of intellectual property theft has been petitioned to the WTO (â€Å"Agreement on Trade-Related.†). Another means for the database owner would be to file suit either in American federal or state court where the defendant is from. America has copyright laws for intellectual property. Because of the WTO, every WTO member must have current laws protecting intellectual property, America is no exception. By suing through the American justice system, the database owner could have an injunction placed on the product from the database immediately. American laws would also punish the hacker, if they were found guilty, by restitution or jail time. The two options above all depend on the database owner and where they live. If from a developed country like Russia or one of the European states, it is very likely justice will be done and their database will be protected. However, if from an underdeveloped country, like Cambodia or an African state the database owner will lose their property. One because their country does not have the existing WTO treaty or their country already has sanctions. Two the database owner would not have the

Methods for Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Methods for Teaching - Essay Example The lecturer then winds up the lesson with an expanded explanation and demonstration concerning the topic to accomplish assimilation and understanding (Mertig, 2003). A good example is a teacher preparing to lecture on a topic on mental illness. The teacher will ensure that he or she provides adequate information to the students inform of narrating and demonstrations. Demonstrations include showing pictures of a mentally ill patient and showing their symptoms through a picture or video while teaching. Lecturing involves defining mental illness, stating the possible causes of mental illness in the society then providing methods of managing mental illness, which can be drugs or therapies. The students will take notes and ask questions at the end of the lecture before the teacher comes up with a test to determine whether his or her students understood what mental illness is all about. Simulated practices offer students with opportunities to be involved in patient care experiences they may not have an opportunity to encounter in actual clinical settings for example coming across a patient with mental illness. These patient situations may have high impact events they may not experience in their normal classroom learning. Simulation offers an opportunity to assess clinical verdict of a mentally ill patient. It gives an opportunity to students for them to critically analyze their actions, reflect on their own set of skills, and assess the clinical verdicts of others (Davis, 2007). Simulation promotes active learning and participation because it allows the students to participate in taking care of the mentally ill patients and be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses while handling the patients. It is through participation that they are able to judge and analyze critically whether class work is what happens in the mental institutions. Simulation provides a new avenue for educators and researchers to improve nursing education and practice as well as

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Setting the stage for strategic compensation and bases for pay Term Paper

Setting the stage for strategic compensation and bases for pay - Term Paper Example Compensation Department Goals Milkovich & Newman (2005) define compensation as the financial returns and benefits employees receive from employer in order to achieve a positive relationship between employer and employee. It is geared at enhancing employee’s performance and organizational effectiveness and consequently competitive advantage in the labor market. The compensation department is part human resource department as it is concerned with employee base pay and benefits administration.The main goals of the department are to attract, motivate and retain talented employees in the organization. To achieve these goals, an organization needs to align its compensation objectives with organization objectives (Ledford & Heneman, 2002). To attract high quality talent, its pay has to be competitive in the market. The compensation department carries out surveys to determine what the other organizations are offering for similar tasks and pay the same amount or higher than the competi tors. The salary should reflect the value of the job being performed for an employee to be satisfied (Heneman, 2002).If the compensation an employee receives is not equivalent to the task performed or is not equivalent to what others performing similar tasks in the organization or in the job market, then the employee loses morale or is demotivated leading to poor performance and loss of productivity for the organization hence the compensation system should be internally equitable and externally competitive (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). Through job evaluation, salary structure and performance management systems, an organization can be able to motivate and retain high performing employees. Ledford & Heneman (2002) argue that performance appraisals can be used to justify increased pay rate (413). Higher pay rates then enable the organization to set high selection standards thus recruit better qualified employees. To retain the employees, the organization can offer pay based on performance or the currently new system of pay for skills (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). However, motivation depends on the value of rewards achieved after achieving the set standards or after good performance thus the rewards should be motivating so as to direct behavior towards high performance. Contextual Influence That Pose Greatest Challenge and One That Poses Least Challenge to Companies’ Competitiveness Organizations strive to achieve competitive advantage through its compensation system. According to Cardy & Leonard (2011), company gains competitiveness if its pay is fair compared to what is offered by other organizations. This can be achieved by developing strategies aimed at ensuring it remains competitive in the market such as cost leadership and differentiation. A strategic analysis of the internal capabilities and external market environment is required to establish the challenges to organizations competitive ability. Organizations attain efficiency by operating at low cost whi le at the same time producing high quality products. This has an implication on its inputs since the cost of production is determined by cost of inputs such as labor, capital and land. To attain efficiency, it thus has to ensure maximum utilization of its resources; in this case its employee skills, knowledge and interests. The competitiveness of the company is however challenged by various contextual factors such as; employment laws, labor unions, market influences and social factors. These factors affect compensation practice and consequently competitiveness (Milkovich & Newman, 2005). The employment laws may pose a great challenge to compensation practices. The wage laws determine the minimum and maximum wages an employee can receive and prohibit employment discrimination. If an employee perceives a practice such as performance pay or skill based pay as discriminatory, he/she can claim discrimination allegation. The base pay for employees performing

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Relationship between demand and price of house increasing in China Research Proposal

Relationship between demand and price of house increasing in China - Research Proposal Example The results from their research had suggested that the major push in the rising demand of housing in China is coming from the stimulus provided by the government. The government strongly regulates the prices of the housing market by adopting relevant polices. According to the research conducted by Rothman (2011 cited in Stohldreier, 2012) government in China wants to influence house ownership which explains the high demand of housing in the country. Researchers have pointed out that there are many factors which influence the housing prices. For instance the research conducted by Beltratti and Morana (2010) had pointed out that the main factors which influence the price of housing include variables like private consumption, rate of CPI inflation, interest rates of the economy, stock price and price of oil. Few researchers have focused on the impacts of monetary policy on the housing market. The results obtained from their study are however mixed and does not show convergence. The research work undertaken by Iacoviello & Minetti (2008) had focused on the impact of credit channel on the housing market. The results from the study had shown that house prices are heavily influenced by changes in the interest changes of the economy. However, this research was conducted in the Western countries namely Finland, Germany, UK and Norway. Researchers who have focused on the Chinese market specifically have found that rising income of the households is one of the strongest factors that have influenced the demand for housing in China. The past three decades of rapid economic growth in the country have had a huge impact on raising the income of the middle-income households including their disposable income (Chen, Guo and Wu, 2011). Additional factors that have influenced the house of pricing in China include high rate of population growth, rise in savings rate, investment in fixed as sets and rising construction

Monday, September 23, 2019

Buddhism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buddhism - Research Paper Example Buddhism is among the few leading religions. This religion started about 2, 600 years ago in India. Sakya is believed to have started it is a prince of the tribe called Siddhartha Gautama (Kozak, 2011). The basic teachings of Buddha came from the time he became enlightened after a certain farmer had beaten his ox in a grazing field. Buddha wondered why the farmer had beaten up his ox and why a living thing like an animal ought to feed on another creature in order to survive (Kozak, 2011). He was able to discover three prominent marks of reality. Everything that exists is due to conversion from one form to another. Nothing new has been formed, or nothing destroyed completely but simply changed (Kozak, 2011). If man destroys something around the environment, he is destroying himself. Buddha was aware of this truth. For this reason, Buddhists did not kill animals (Kozak, 2011). This is a universal truth that he strongly believed. Everything is constantly changing, and this is the reason why there is a different history from the life that is lived now. People and other living things die out and are being replaced by others. The environment also changes from one state to another (Kozak, 2011). He also believes in constant transformation, and the universe, which is stated as karma. Nothing ever takes place in our lives unless we ought to have it. The measure of what we receive either good or bad is exactly what we earn. This is a lesson that teaches individuals to create a bright future (Kozak, 2011). He believes that suffering is common to all. Everyone gets to suffer from life situations that make us unhappy. The reasons for these sufferings are due to people’s ignorance and greed. Every person should enjoy life without being greedy. In order to do this, all the greediness and ignorance should be cut off entirely (Kozak,

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Associate Program Material Essay Example for Free

Associate Program Material Essay Answer each question in 50 to 150 words. Provide citations for all the sources you use. 1. What is diversity? Why is diversity valued? Diversity is often used to refer to many demographic variables like race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics. Diversity is valued, because it has given our country its own unique strengths and flexibilities. Without diversity, our world would be in way worse shape than it already is today. http://www.doi.gov/pmb/eeo/what-is-diversity.cfm 2. What is ethnocentrism? In what ways can ethnocentrism be detrimental to a society? Ethnocentrism is where a specific ethnic group is brought to attention and centered on, usually being one’s own group. Ethnocentrism can be detrimental to a society, because it can lead to false opinions about the differences with cultures which then can often lead to falsified communication between the majority human beings. http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/ethno.htm 3. Define emigration and immigration. Emigration is defined as migration from a place (especially migration from your native country in Order to settle in another). Immigration is defined as migration into a place (especially migration to a country of which you are not a native in order to settle there). The two definitions are similar to one another. wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 4. What are some of the ways groups of people are identified? Groups of people are identified in many different ways. They can be identified by all of the following: race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics. Although I’m sure that there are many more categories that people identify others under, there are the most common ones. 5. Why do people label and group other people? People label and group other people for numerous reasons. Some people label and group others, because they don’t want to accept the fact that they are different. Maybe they just don’t understand them or want to understand them. Others label and group to make them feel better about their own selves, because they are lacking self-confidence. 6. Define culture. Is culture limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds? Explain. Culture is defined as the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. Another definition of culture is the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group. No, culture is not just limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds. As it was mentioned in the definition above, culture is pertaining to social, ethnic, and age group, along with race as well. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture?s=t

Saturday, September 21, 2019

What Happened In The Tlatelolco Massacre History Essay

What Happened In The Tlatelolco Massacre History Essay The Plaza of the Three Cultures, known as the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Spanish, symbolizes Mexicos unique cultural heritage. La Plaza de las Tres Culturas was once the center of one of the most powerful Native American empires, the Aztecs, located in the ancient city of Tlatelolco. The square contains the remains of the Aztec temples and is flanked by the Colonial Cathedral of Santiago, and the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Department of Foreign of Affairs) building. Las Tres Culturas is in recognition of the three periods of Mexican history reflected by those buildings: pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial, and the independent mestizo nation. The plaza not only represents three cultures but is an important reminder of the Mexican spirit of determination. It is the site where the Aztecs made their final stand against the Spanish army in 1521 and the massacre of 1968. It has been called Mexicos Tiananmen Square, Mexicos Kent State. During the presidency of Gustavo Dà ­az Ordaz (1964-1970), there were several antecedents to the 1968 student confrontations with the Mexican government, but nothing comparable to the Tlatelolco Massacre that occurred on the night of October 2, 1968, in Mexico Citys Plaza de las Tres Culturas. Background The year1968 was a year of political turmoil around the world. The International Olympic Committeeheaded by Avery Brundage from the U.S.had chosen Mexico as the first Third World country ever to host the Olympic Games. This was aimed both to draw oppressed countries into imperialist-dominated world sport and to showcase Mexico as a model of U.S.-sponsored growth and relative stability. Mexico was supposed to provide a contrast to the national liberation struggles which were shaking most of Latin America, Asia, and Africa and sparking rebellions in the imperialist citadels from Detroit to Paris as well. To date, no other Latin America country has subsequently hosted the Olympic Games. The Mexican government invested a massive $150 million in preparations for the Olympics, an ostentatious amount considering the poverty that existed in Mexico. The Mexican president during the Olympics, Gustavo Dà ­az Ordaz ineptly strained tenuous conditions in Mexico in an attempt to preserve the peac e. During the Dà ­az Ordaz presidency, Mexicans endured the suppression of independent labor unions, peasant farmers, and the economy. From this general dissatisfaction with President Dà ­az Ordaz, the student movement was born. Initially their demands were limited to greater employment and respect for university autonomy; however, the struggles of the factory workers and rural peasants soon resonated with them. This movement of rebellious students was touched off on July 24 when a fight between gangs at two high schools connected with the longtime rivals, the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM) and National Politechnical Institute (IPN, or Poli), was viciously put down by antiriot police called granaderos. When outraged vocational students protested, granaderos attacked again, killing many. In response, students seized buses and put up barricades to defend their schools. Student strikes and takeovers hit high schools all over the capital. The high school students were supported by UNAM and IPN students. Students from 70 universities and preparatory schools in Mexico formed a grassroots National Strike Council (CNH) and put forward six strike demands: disband the granaderos; fire police chiefs; investigate and punish higher officials responsible for the repression; pay compensation for students killed and injured; repeal laws making social dissolutionbreaking down of societya crime (under these laws many independent unionists and communists had been jailed); and free political prisoners, including students arrested in the recent disturbances as well as those seized earlier for social dissolution. Within three days the government had to call in the army to take back several Mexico City prepas (preparatoriashigh schools connected to universities). There were clashes which led to many hundreds of arrests and injuries. Thirty-two students had been killed since the first confrontation, but this only fired up the youths resistance. The student strike spread to the UNAM, IPN, and universities throughout the country, supported by a majority of professors. By late August and September the students were calling marches of 300,000 to 600,000 people; important contingents of workers and peasants participated regularly. Over the coming months, the student movement gained support from students outside the capital and other segments of society that continued to build until that October, despite several instances of violence. CNH Tactics Student brigades strained their creativity and skills to foil police and get the word out. Engineering students designed balloons which would burst when they got to a certain height and rain leaflets on the heads of pedestrians. Acting students put on realistic street theater in which a student and a conservative woman in pearls and heels carried out loud debates in crowded markets. Hundreds of observers would be drawn in, the majority on the side of the youth, and the advanced would be quietly contacted by undercover students in the crowd. Some students found that they and the barrio or slum dwellers spoke what seemed to be two different languages. They had to throw out bookish talk and learn from the vivid calà ³ slang of the streets. After a full day of brigade work, they would spend the night in classrooms they had taken over, discussing the conditions and outrages the masses had exposed them to and figuring out how to use this new knowledge in their leaflets and agitation. The red and white buses of the IPN, always with some daring students and a loudspeaker perched on the roof, became famous for a kind of roving speak-in. Workers, market vendors, and even mariachi singers would climb up on the bus roof one after another to voice their support or disagreement with the students demands or tactics and to air their grievances. In some neighborhoods, just the appearance of an IPN bus was enough to immediately attract crowds of hundreds of people who would gather around. Students captured the spirit of the people in a way that the national government was never able to do. In fact, the national government was despised by its people. Mexican Government The turmoil of the 1960s in part reflected a widespread dissatisfaction among Mexicans with the rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI was aptly described in 1968 as entrenched, stagnant, and primarily self-serving in the eyes of many Mexicans. The PRI controlled the nation with an iron fist for over 70 consecutive years. The party has been known to use violence, manipulation and corruption to win elections and hide information from the public, such as the details concerning the Tlatelolco massacre. President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz was known for an authoritarian manner of rule over his cabinet and country, despite Mexico being a democratic country. Luis Escheverria, Interior Secretary to Ordaz, was also known for a no nonsense attitude against student protesters. The Mexican governments planned response to the student rally on the evening of October 2 was called Operation Galeano. The most definitive account of this operation, culminating with the Tlatelolco Massacre, is found in a Mexican special prosecutors report released in November 2006. According to this report, early on October 2 elements of the militarys Estado Mayor Presidencial (the Presidential High Command) were placed in apartments on the upper floors of the Chihuahua apartment building and other apartment buildings surrounding Tlatelolcos Plaza de las Tres Culturas. Once the rally started, the Army, using from 5,000 to 10,000 soldiers (the accounts varying) and more than 300 tanks and other vehicles, would surround the plaza to prevent those attending the rally from fleeing, while armed military men in civilian clothes, members of a unit called the Batallà ³n Olimpia that had been organized to help protect the Olympic Games, would prevent anyone from entering or leaving the Chi huahua apartment building, in which the organizers of the rally were to be arrested. The planned response of the government ended in bloodshed by the order of Luis Escheverria. Tlatelolco Massacre: The Event On October 1, the CNH held two rallies at UNAM. Speakers urged the thousands of students present to attend an October 2 rally at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City, to be followed by a march to Casco de Santo Tomà ¡s to demand the withdrawal of authorities from the IPN campus. On October 2, 1968, approximately 10,000 people, most of them students carrying red carnations, arrived in the vast colonial plaza of Tlatelolco for a demonstration. At 6:04 p.m. green and red flares dropped from helicopters, soldiers burst into the square, tanks blocked the exits and an elite plainclothes battalion stormed the speakers platform on the third-floor balcony of an apartment building, where the National Strike Committee, the leadership body of the student movement, was stationed and opened fire. The gunfire lasted for sixty-two minutes, then started again and continued for hours. Late in the evening, when the shooting finally ceased, scores of demonstrators lay d ead and woundedchildren and the elderly among them. The official government explanation of the incident was that armed provocateurs among the demonstrators, stationed in buildings overlooking the crowd, had begun the firefight. Suddenly finding themselves sniper targets, the security forces had simply returned the shooting in self-defense. By the next morning, newspapers reported that 20 to 28 people had been killed, hundreds wounded, and hundreds more arrested. Most of the Mexican media reported that the students provoked the armys murderous response with sniper fire from the apartment buildings surrounding the plaza. El Dà ­as morning headline on October 3, 1968 read as followed: Criminal Provocation at the Tlatelolco Meeting Causes Terrible Bloodshed. The government-controlled media dutifully reported the Mexican governments side of the events that night, painting the students as trouble makers who needed to be brought to order by any and all means necessary. Olympic Games 1968 Controversy The death of hundreds did not even phase the International Olympic Committee. They did not consider to cancelling the games, due to their belief that the massacre was an isolated event involving a social minority. On October 16, 1968, an action by two African-American sprinters at the Mexico City Olympics shook the sporting world. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze medalists in the mens 200-meter race, took their places on the podium for the medal ceremony barefooted and wearing civil rights badges, lowered their heads and each defiantly raised a black-gloved fist as the Star Spangled Banner was played to show their support for the student protesters and the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Some people (particularly IOC president Avery Brundage) felt that a political statement had no place in the international forum of the Olympic Games. In an immediate response to their actions, Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team by Brundage and banned from the Olympi c Village. Those who opposed the protest said the actions disgraced all Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, praised the men for their bravery. Tlatelolco Massacre: Response and Investigation Some argue that an understanding of the domestic political context within Mexico explains why the government reacted in such a harsh manner. Mexico stayed relatively isolated from other foreign powers which provided them more freedom in their ability to deal with their domestic problems. The strongest censure from abroad that Mexico received for the massacre was a mild finger wagging from the representatives of a few foreign governments. The worlds failure to confront and condemn the actions of the Mexican government fueled the killing rampage throughout Mexico in the years to follow. In 1998, President Ernesto Zedillo, on the 30th anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre, authorized a congressional investigation into the events of October 2. However, the PRI government continued its recalcitrance (defiance of authority) and did not release official government documents pertaining to the incident. Eventually in 2001, President Vicente Fox, the historic president that ended the 70-year reign of the PRI, attempted to resolve the greatest of these unanswered questions: who had orchestrated the massacre? President Fox ordered the release of previously classified documents concerning the 1968 massacre. The documents revealed that the students did not open fire first and showed that the snipers were members of the Presidential Guard, who were instructed to fire on the military forces in order to provoke them. President Fox also appointed Ignacio Carrillo Prieto in 2002 to prosecute those responsible for ordering the massacre. In June 2006, an ailing, 84-year-old Luis Eche verrà ­a was charged with genocide in connection with the massacre. He was placed under house arrest pending trial. In early July of that year, he was cleared of genocide charges, as the judge found that Echeverrà ­a could not be put on trial because the statute of limitations had expired. However, in March 2009, after a convoluted appeal process, the genocide charges against Echeverria were completely dismissed. Despite the ruling, prosecutor Carrillo Prieto said he would continue his investigation and seek charges against Echeverria before the United Nations International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. In October 2003, the role of the U.S. government in the massacre was publicized when the National Security Archive at George Washington University published a series of records from theCIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI and the White House which were released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The LITEMPO documents detail: That in response to Mexican government concerns over the security of the Olympic Games the Pentagon sent military radios, weapons, ammunition and riot control training material to Mexico before and during the crisis. That the CIA station in Mexico City produced almost daily reports concerning developments within the university community and the Mexican government from July to October. Six days before the massacre at Tlatelolco, both Echeverrà ­a and head of Federal Security (DFS) Fernando Guiterrez Barrios told the CIA that the situation will be under complete control very shortly. That the Dà ­az Ordaz government arranged to have student leader Sà ³crates Campos Lemus accuse dissident PRI politicians such as Carlos Madrazo of funding and orchestrating the student movement. Still, some today believe the United States government was only concerned with security and safety during the Olympic Games 68 and was not involved in the Tlatelolco massacre in any form. Determining who is at fault however, will not change the events that occurred on October 2, 1968. The blood and tears shed that day are still fresh in the minds of those who witnessed the horrific event. Remembering Tlatelolco In 1993, a stele was erected to remember those who lost their lives. The former headquarters of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs is now a memorial museum called Memorial 68 to remember the Mexican student demonstrations and the Tlatelolco massacre victims and survivors. Each year the anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre is marked with a march to the same plaza and a protest for the release of government records. On October 2, 2008, the 40th anniversary, two marches were held in Mexico City to commemorate the event. One traveled from Escuela Normal Superior de Maestros (Teachers College) to the Zocalo. The other went from the Instituto Politecnico Nacional to the massacre site of the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. According to the Comità © del 68 (68 Committee), one of the organizers of the event, 40,000 marchers were in attendance. Unfortunately, still too many are unfamiliar with the events that occurred since the massacre fails to appear in most history textbooks. When asked how this could be, high school Headmaster Samuel Gonzalez Montano, replied, You cant teach anything that didnt officially happen. As of now, the newest generation of Mexicans only have a general knowledge of the events surrounding the 68 Olympic Games, which are unavoidably intertwined. Gregory P. Groggel, a graduate of the University of Puget Sound, recounts: During a visit to the plaza, I encountered a group of boys playing soccer. When I inquired from one of them if he knew what happened in October of 1968 here in the plaza, he shrugged and looked around. I told him some 300 people died. He seemed lost and turned slowly to read the memorial he was sitting in front of and had lived near his whole life. The end of it reads: Who? Whom? No one. The next day, no one. The plaza awoke swept; The newspapers said for news the state of the weather. And on the television, on the radio, in the theaters, there was not a single change in the program, not a single announcement. Nor a moment of silence at the banquet (or following the banquet). The deaths of so many youths and protesters must not be forgotten. They deserve more than a simple moment of silence. Remember Tlatelolco. Fore, those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.(George Santayana)

Friday, September 20, 2019

Malaysian Ministry Of Education Introducing The Literature Component Education Essay

Malaysian Ministry Of Education Introducing The Literature Component Education Essay In the case of second or foreign language teaching and learning, literature has been widely accepted as a motivating material, a medium of accessing other cultural background, a resource for language acquisition and a medium to expand learners language awareness (Abdullah Et al, 2007). According to Elliot (1991) over the last few years there are positive feedbacks to using literature in a language context or at least has been a medium to expose language learners to a new world.. It is different from previous perceptions towards literature whereby literature was thought to embody archaic language which had no place in the world of audiolingualism where linguists believed in the primacy of speech, thus considering the written form somewhat static, (Elliot, 1991) In Malaysia, the Ministry of Education had decided to introduce Literature Component as a part of English syllabus in schools in the year of 2000. Hence, students from primary and secondary schools are required to learn literature together with other existing subjects in schools. The Ministry of Education has come out with a list of literary texts which cover Malaysian, British, European, Australian, American and African works. After ten years using the same texts, the government has changed the list of literary text with a complete new list for KBSM in 2010. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY. Teachers play important role in assuring all the objectives that are stated in the Curriculum Specification can be achieved by all students. The learning outcomes provided by the Ministry of Education to be the guidelines in teaching. However, it would be difficult to suddenly expose students to literary studies without any form of prior preparation (Talif, 1992). The success of this implementation is very much depending on how the lessons are carried out. Teachers play an important role in the teaching process of developing students ability to learn literature. Therefore, teachers have to be wise in selecting the suitable approaches to be used in classrooms, according to students background as well as the literary texts. There are a number of approaches which are believed to help teachers in delivering the messages conveyed in each literature piece. According to Bottino, the teaching of literature is often seen in the framework of the three models which are the Cultural Model, Language Model, and the Personal Growth Model. As for trainee teachers, these approaches assist them in preparing their lessons. Before going to the real teaching world during the practicum session, they have been exposed to micro and macro-teaching which are part of their methodology courses. This mock-teaching includes their lesson plan preparation and expectations in teaching literature. The problem here is, the audience for their micro or macro teaching are not real school students. Their audiences are their classmates and friends, who have studied and analyzed the literary texts, therefore, there is a big different between teaching school students who might not read the literary texts before hand and people who have prior knowledge on the texts taught.. In fact, their behaviour/attitude in class is completely different from the real school kids. Hence, trainee teachers feel that they have a lot of inadequacy in teaching literature in ESL classroom as the objectives set were not achieved. 1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM Since Literature component has been implemented as a part of English subject in schools, certain issues arise. Based on my own experience and that of my friends, we faced a lot of difficulties in carrying out literature lessons when we were sent to school to teach. We were equipped with all the theoretical, content, and pedagogical knowledge from our Methodology of Teaching Literature class. However, we found out that it was difficult to apply the knowledge to real classroom teaching and how our expectations differ before and after teaching literature in the real classroom. Hence, these difficulties we encountered during our practicum have created the interest in conducting this research. This study, therefore, would be looking at the problematic aspects with regard to the teaching of literature as experienced by trainee teachers. The first one is trainee teachers readiness and expectations in teaching literature before entering classrooms. The second aspect would be the experience of teaching gained during the practicum session, and the third aspect would be other important trainings or exposure they might need in order to improve their literature teaching in the future. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives for this study are crucial in determining its success. Through the objectives, researcher is able to classify explicitly what to examine for the research. The objectives of this study are: To identify trainee teachers readiness and expectations of teaching Literature in ESL classroom before leaving for practicum. To identify issues faced in teaching literature during their practicum To find out trainee teachers memorable/good experience in teaching literature. To identify trainee teachers needs and demands in order to improve their literature teaching in ESL classroom RESEARCH QUESTION This study attempts to answer four main questions on the perception of TESL students with regard to the teaching literature. 1.5.1 What are the TESL trainee teachers expectations in teaching literature before leaving for practicum? Are they prepared and equipped with relevant knowledge? 1.5.2 While doing the practicum did they experience difficulties in teaching literature components? What kind of experiences that trainees faced during literature lessons? 1.5.3 What are the memorable or good experiences that they gained from teaching literature in ESL classroom? 1.5.4 What do trainee teachers feel that they need in order to improve literature teaching? DEFINITION OF TERMS The following terms will be used throughout this future research: 1.5.1 Teacher: The definition of a teacher is someone who embodies all those qualities that exude the ability to transfer knowledge and skills from master to student, (Larzelere). In this context it refers to the TESL students who are going to be a future teacher. 1.5.2 Trainee: is someone who is being trained for a job. In this context it refers to the TESL students who had gone trough the learning and practicum process while they were students in UiTM. The meaning is taken from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: The Living Dictionary. 1.5.3 TESL: a term which referring to a course of Teaching English as Second Language. 1.5.4 Practicum: The practical part of a study or course, as opposed to the theoretical parts. 1.5.5 Literature: The collective body of literary of productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of knowledge, or of a given country or period. LIMITATIONS There are a few limitations which is inherent in the present study. The first limitation is time constraint. Due to limited time, this study will only involve twenty percent of Semester 7 and 8 students whom I can get easy access to gather the data. The second limitation is budget constraint. As a student, I have limited financial support in completing this study. Therefore, I could not carry out a large scale study, but had to be content with a small scale study instead. 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This is a small scale study whereby the data collected would involve TESL students from UiTM Shah Alam who had undergone their teaching practicum, as the requirement to complete their bachelor in education course. Therefore, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other situations. However, it is sufficient as an exploratory research by a novice researcher. 1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The result of this study can be utilized by various parties who are involved in deciding the course contents of literature subjects in Faculty of Education, UiTM Seksyen 17. The study would create changes in literature course contents/syllabus in the faculty in producing better quality English teachers especially in teaching literature in ESL classroom. 1.9 CONCLUSION